Ted Stevens

Clark James Mishler / Getty

Once the country's longest-serving Republican senators, Ted Stevens had a rough year. After working as Alaska's go-to guy for four decades, Stevens ended his storied career in disgrace. He was convicted in October 2007 of failing to properly report more than $250,000 in gifts from an oil-services company executive and later lost his re-election bid by just a few hundred votes. Even so, most Alaskans remain fond of the 85-year-old World War II veteran. Thanks to his expertise in procuring pork barrel funds, the state received $3.4 billion between 1995 and 2008. The watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, which has targeted the senator for years, named him December's Porker of the Month, calling the dubious award a "final swan song" for Stevens.